Pillsbury has been a leader for more than 25 years in helping the public and private sectors work together on infrastructure and other projects, representing public agencies and private entities in the United States and internationally.

Our law firm's extensive experience with public-private ventures (PPVs), as they are generally known in the federal arena, and public-private partnerships (PPPs or P3s) covers many types of projects, including transportation (toll roads, rail and light rail), power plants, airports, military housing and other infrastructure, energy generation facilities, port facilities, the first privately financed courthouse in the U.S., and a neuroscience research center.

Altogether, Pillsbury attorneys have handled projects from virtually every sector where PPVs/PPPs have been used. We have a deep and experienced team from which to draw to satisfy specific client objectives. Our project development lawyers team up regularly with Pillsbury lawyers in other practices to best handle all of the issues related to PPV/PPP projects.

Public-Side and Private-Side Experience
Our earliest PPV/PPP assignments helped U.S. government entities work with the private sector to better utilize public real estate assets. We have represented a wide array of federal governmental agencies and government-sponsored entities, including:

• Amtrak
• Food and Drug Administration 
• National Institutes of Health 
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Postal Service
• General Services Administration
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 
• International Culture and Trade Center Commission 
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
  

We have also handled many diverse PPP assignments for states and state government agencies and the District of Columbia. Our lawyers have also been retained by the World Bank and the United Nations to provide advice on private sector financing of infrastructure projects in developing countries.

The broad and deep experience we have on the governmental side is mirrored by our representation of private sponsors, including construction companies, environmental and engineering companies, investors, lenders, and other private sector parties involved in PPP projects. Over the last decade Pillsbury has represented numerous private developers and investors in military housing and energy projects totaling well over $20 billion in privatized assets. These projects include pursuing the public sector solicitations, structuring the transactions and public/private financing, negotiating and documenting all agreements, ensuring regulatory compliance, and advising on the ongoing operations and management of the projects.

Our Capabilities
Pillsbury has attracted clients involved in creating and pursuing PPV/PPP projects because of our deep experience, service and creativity. Our attorneys provide end-to-end PPV/PPP project services, counseling clients through all aspects of the project, including:

• Project assessment
• Statutory evaluation 
• Transaction structuring and planning
• Procurement
• Environmental planning and cleanups (including federal and state environmental reviews)
• Financing (including structuring and documentation)
• Negotiation and drafting of project documents 
• Construction
• Tax
• Insurance
• Operations and management
• Asset management
• Dispute resolution
• Consolidation and restructuring
  

Representative Engagements

Long Beach Courthouse
Pillsbury represented the constructor of the $490 million, 535,000-square-foot Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse. This was the first social infrastructure project in California and reportedly the first PPP courthouse project in the U.S. It was a design-build-operate private finance project which involved an innovative "performance based" lease structure. The private party guaranteed on-time delivery at a fixed price and guaranteed the project's availability and performance to agreed standards over the 35-year lease term.

University of California Neuroscience Research Center
Pillsbury represented the sponsor and constructor of this $200 million research center. This was a design-build-operate lease with a public financing structure. Multiple structures were carefully analyzed. Public financing through a nonprofit entity turned out to be the most cost-effective solution. The key to success was Pillsbury's ability to align the private and public parties' interests, together in this case with the bond trustee.

Texas A&M Research and Manufacturing Facility
Pillsbury is representing the Texas A&M University System in connection with an RFP issued by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to establish and maintain facilities for producing pandemic flu vaccine and medical countermeasures for bioterrorist pathogens.

Dulles Greenway Toll Road
Pillsbury represented the owner and sponsor of the Dulles Greenway toll road from its inception in 1993. It was the first privately financed toll road based upon the Virginia Highway Corporation Act of 1988. Our firm helped structure the project and negotiated all the transaction documentation including venture formation, rights of way acquisition, design-build, financing, and operation and maintenance agreements. Pillsbury helped coordinate with multiple government agencies at the federal, state and local levels. We continue to represent the new owner in a variety of operational matters and in dispute resolution.
 
Military Lands Projects
Pillsbury is a leader in PPV transactions and outsourcings involving project development on military lands, including military housing, utilities and energy projects. We create PPVs and represent developers, underwriters and credit enhancers on all aspects of military privatization transactions, including project structure, finance, tax, environmental, design-build and construction, and government contract issues. Over the last decade, we have closed over $10 billion of military housing transactions and refinancings, involving over 50,000 housing units and several thousand apartment units in 15 states and the District of Columbia. We have also been engaged as operations, regulatory and litigation counsel for numerous other PPV projects.